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MS081.002A: A Long Life in Buncombe County: The Reminiscences of Ottis Green, Sr. (transcript)

by: Green, Ottis; Johnston, John D., Jr.; Rhine, Zoe

Publication date: 1964
Usage: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
Topics: Oral history, North Carolina--Asheville
Publisher: Buncombe County Special Collections
Collection: buncombecountyspecialcollectionsoralhistories; americana; buncombecountyspecialcollections
Language: English
Item Size: 51.8M

Description

This file contains a summary, transcript, and index of an oral history interview. The audio recording is available here. Transcribed and indexed by Zoe Rhine, July 2005.

Ottis Green, Sr. was interviewed by his grandson, John D. Johnston, Jr., at various times over a period of three weeks in the summer of 1964. As described in a summary provided by Johnston, Green was "a native and a lifelong resident of Buncombe County, and his life span coincided with the evolution of Asheville from a rural settlement into a modern city." His reminiscences include his family history, life in Asheville following his family's move there in 1886, his business (The Ottis Green Hardware Company) and his marriage and family life. Green was 90 years of age at the time of the interview.

Format note

The interview was recorded originally on reel-to-reel tape. Edwin Easter prepared audiocassette copies from the original, which John D. Johnston, Jr. then made available to Pack Memorial Library staff to copy on August 23, 1993, along with the brief text summary included here.

Audio files were digitized from five audiocassette tapes, which were labeled with summaries of their contents:

Tape 1, side A labeled "Side 1 Early Childhood - Civil War - His grandfather's remembrances" & handwritten "1st part of 1"

Tape 1, side B labeled "Side 2 Move to Asheville - College Days - Spanish-Amer War Era - First Jobs" & handwritten "end of 1 and 1st part of 2"

Tape 2, side A (unlabeled) is actually a repeat of Tape 1, side B

Tape 2, side B continues the recording; handwritten label "last part of 2"

Tape 3, side A labeled "Side 3 After College - Young Busn's - Religious Exp. - Eliada Childrens Home - Early Medicine - Early Hotels"

Tape 3, side B labeled "Side 4 Vanderbilt Hist. - Early Childhood - First Electricity - City Streets - Early Business"

Tape 4, side A labeled "Side 5 WWI Era: Depression - Ashv. Real Estate - Lee Edwards HS built - Ashv. Politics - Ashv. Banking: failures & fore."

Tape 4, side B labeled "Side 6 WWII - Prosperity in Ashv - Great Flood in 1964 - Work Ethic - Hardware Business"

Tape 5, side A labeled "Side 7 The Hardware Years"

Tape 5, side B labeled "Side 8 The Hardware Years (cont.)

Citation

Oral Histories Collection, Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville, NC.

Repository

Buncombe County Special Collections

Buncombe County Public Libraries

Rights and licensing

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